Published: Monday, May 27, 2013 at 04:56 PM.

Kevin Cruise is accustomed to working as an usher at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But he’s not used to what he saw Sunday night during the Coca-Cola 600.

The Kings Mountain High assistant football coach, his colleagues, players and other supporters of the program have helped at races at CMS for six years. For their efforts, the track makes a donation to their program.

When a nylon cable carrying a Fox television camera overhead broke in Turn 4, the Ford section where Cruise was an usher felt the impact Sunday night. While much of the media chatter centered on the broken cable, Cruise’s area near Turn 1 had a different problem.

The cable near Cruise’s section was lower but not broken, and cars were hitting it every time they drove by, causing the cable to hit some of the fans each of the laps before the race was stopped. Cruise said some fans were even throwing things in the direction of the track to try to bring attention to the cable problem before the caution was thrown.

The camera was in front of Cruise’s section when the cable holding it began to sag.

“That’s why we recognized (what it was) so quickly,” Cruise said.

Fellow Kings Mountain coach Mark Latham was standing beside Cruise and noticed it before he did.

Kevin Cruise is accustomed to working as an usher at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But he’s not used to what he saw Sunday night during the Coca-Cola 600.

The Kings Mountain High assistant football coach, his colleagues, players and other supporters of the program have helped at races at CMS for six years. For their efforts, the track makes a donation to their program.

When a nylon cable carrying a Fox television camera overhead broke in Turn 4, the Ford section where Cruise was an usher felt the impact Sunday night. While much of the media chatter centered on the broken cable, Cruise’s area near Turn 1 had a different problem.

The cable near Cruise’s section was lower but not broken, and cars were hitting it every time they drove by, causing the cable to hit some of the fans each of the laps before the race was stopped. Cruise said some fans were even throwing things in the direction of the track to try to bring attention to the cable problem before the caution was thrown.

The camera was in front of Cruise’s section when the cable holding it began to sag.

“That’s why we recognized (what it was) so quickly,” Cruise said.

Fellow Kings Mountain coach Mark Latham was standing beside Cruise and noticed it before he did.

Roxanne Cooper of Kings Mountain was sitting in Turn 4 where the cable broke. She said she saw it fall “slowly and silently” in what felt like slow motion.

“It was so out of the blue, like ‘did we really see that?’” Cooper said.

She posted on Facebook about the cable falling and had friends sending her messages because nothing about it had been said on the television broadcast yet.

Brittany Rodden of Kings Mountain was also near where the cable broke in Turn 4. She said people were screaming around her.

“Everybody was astonished at what happened,” Rodden said.

Not long after the cable broke, a classmate of Rodden’s sitting a couple seats down was holding it up to make sure it didn’t hit anybody.

Rodden usually attends the All-Star Race, but because of a conflict, she attended her first Coca-Cola 600 instead.

Cruise and other ushers were moving around their section looking to see who was hurt and who wasn’t. Medical personnel examined four or five people in his area, but none wanted to go to the hospital. The ushers also made sure fans stayed out of the aisles in case emergency workers needed to transport anybody, Cruise said.

“I’m super proud of the way our boys and all the coaches that went and worked responded,” Cruise said. “They were all looking to help.”

Cruise said the track did well responding to “a situation you could never expect.” He’s always enjoyed his role at the races. Now he’s got a story he won’t soon forget.

“It was pretty interesting, to say the least, the strangest thing I’ve ever seen down there working,” Cruise said.